# 1.9.0 Migration Guide

## How to migrate to a new branch if I use main/dev?

_**It is recommended to do a fresh install.**_ However, if you wish to use an existing copy of SillyTavern, please follow the instructions below.

**IMPORTANT!** Before doing anything, make *a complete backup* of your installation. You may *lose your data* in the process, so don't ignore this warning.

Not sure of which files to back up? See the list here: [How to Update SillyTavern](/Installation/Updating/index.md#updating-from-1120-to-1120)

### git installs

1. Open a terminal prompt (cmd, PowerShell, Termux, etc) in your SillyTavern installation folder.
2. Type `git fetch` and then `git pull` to pull the updates.
3. You may lose your settings. Have you made a backup? `git switch release` or `git switch staging` will change your branch, respectively
4. Skip to next item if you have no errors. You may have something like:
   ```
   error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by checkout:
        config.conf
        public/css/bg_load.css
        public/settings.json
   ```
   You will see a list of files affected. If you do not care about those settings files being replaced `git switch -f release` or `git switch -f staging` will set your branch.
   If you do care to save those changes restore from backup.

5. Type `npm install` and then `npm run start` to test that everything behaves correctly.
6. Enjoy! Restore your data from a backup if needed.

### fatal: invalid reference: release

This may happen if you cloned just a single branch from an old remote (before migration to the organization repo). To fix this, you need to add and fetch a branch from a new remote:

```
git remote add st https://github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern
git fetch st
git checkout -t st/release
```

Then proceed from step 5.

### ZIP installs

Nothing changes for you. Just download the branch/release ZIP like usual.